In Washington state, you will no longer find a clergyman, a fisherman or a journeyman plumber. Nor will you run across a freshman, watchman or policeman. At least not in the state statutes. Last month, Washington became the fourth state to rid its laws of sexist language.
More than 3,500 laws — and 40,000 words — had to be changed to render the statutes gender-neutral. The most common change was the word “his,” which was amended in all cases to read “his and her.”
The state also replaced clergyman with clergy; fisherman with fisher; journeyman plumber with journey-level plumber; freshman with first-year student; and watchman with security guard. Even the word penmanship did not escape amendment. You’ll now find it under handwriting.
Labeling penmanship sexist seems like a stretch to me, but it’s a good practice to avoid using genuinely sexist language. Why? On a subtle level, sexist language promotes discrimination. If CEOs are always referred to as he or him, girls learn that they don’t belong in a boardroom. Likewise, if nurses are always referred to as she, boys may consider nursing unmanly.
Using sexist language also may alienate listeners and readers. If you happen to be talking to a roomful of CEOs, and you consistently use he to refer to them, the women in the audience are going to notice. Some of the men will too. And the speaker (whether man or woman) is likely to lose credibility.
Avoiding sexist language isn’t that hard. We seem to have made a smooth transition from stewardesses to flight attendants, from firemen to firefighters.
But not every “man”-based word can be
de-gendered. For example, what do we do about manhole? Washington state left it alone.